Opera Colorado cancels world premiere, cuts back season

Opera Colorado was selling tickets for "The Scarlet Letter" as late as Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, on its website (Ray RInaldi, The Denver Post)

Suffering a disappointing year-end fundraising campaign in 2012, Opera Colorado is reducing its schedule by one-third, cutting back to just two productions for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

The move postpones the world premiere of "The Scarlet Letter," which was set to debut in May, for at least two years. The opera, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, was the centerpiece of the upcoming season and has been highly touted in ads and banners across the region.

Opera Colorado General Director Greg Carpenter said the company fell short of its $2 million campaign goal by about $500,000. Contributions from individual donors began falling off during the recent election season and failed to recover by Dec. 31, a time of year when gifts typically increase from donors seeking tax deductions for charitable contributions.

"We realized very quickly we had to make some changes and we are addressing it hard," said Carpenter.

The company ended calendar year 2012 with a deficit of about $690,000. Its annual budget for the three operas it typically presents February though May, is about $4.5 million.

The cutbacks are a setback for the organization and its artistic ambitions. Two of the company's 14 full-time employees have been laid off and a yet-to-be determined number of workers will be transitioned to part-time, seasonal work.

"The Scarlet Letter" was to be a big move for Opera Colorado creatively, the first home-grown professional premiere in its 30-year history. The company's long-term goal has to been to add new works into its schedule, balancing out more traditional titles.

The postponement leaves the company — and Denver audiences, who already have few operatic choices in the winter months — with two warhorse titles on the schedule, "Romeo & Juliet," which begins its four performances Feb. 9, and "Don Giovanni," which goes up March 30.

The major opera companies in Kansas City, Dallas and St. Louis, by comparison, all plan to present four productions this year.

Carpenter said season subscriptions for the three-opera 2012 season were hitting targets and there were "no red flags," signaling donations would drop off.

The company, he said, remains committed to presenting "The Scarlet Letter," written by Lori Laitman, with a libretto by Colorado Poet Laureate David Mason. The postponement will allow more time to raise the approximately $1 million the opera would cost.

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